Huang Qingdao, director of the Guangdong Provincial Health Bureau, said 305 people had been found to have contracted the disease between November 16 and February 9.

Five patients had died, including a 10-year-old boy, a 36-year-old teacher and three men aged between 45 and 56 years old.

The deaths were mainly caused by respiration exhaustion, Huang said.

The patients include 105 doctors, nurses and other medical workers who were apparently infected by the disease while treating the victims.

Huang and other senior officials from the Guangzhou municipal government rejected rumors that the city is being attacked by a plague, anthrax or bird flu, as had been claimed by some Hong Kong media.

None of these diseases have, so far, been reported in the province, Huang said.

But they said medical experts have yet to find out the virus that caused the deadly disease.

Huang said the patients were found in six cities -- Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Foshan and Heyuan -- in the province bordering Hong Kong and Macao.

A total of 226 pneumonia patients, including two deaths, were detected in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province which has more than 80 million people.

Huang told the press Tuesday there had been no new pneumonia cases reported in Heyuan, Zhongshan and Foshan in the past week.

The number of new patients decreased in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Jiangmen, Huang added.

He said 59 patients had recovered and left hospital, those still hospitalized are in a stable condition.

At another news conference Tuesday morning, Guangzhou Vice-Mayor Chen Chuanyu said the city has world-class medical facilities, and is able to cope with any epidemics.

Spring is usually the peak period for pneumonia, influenza and other respiratory tract diseases in Guangzhou, which has a high humidity rate.

Chen said none of the municipal Party and government officials have, so far, taken anti-virus medicines and vaccines.

"And there is no need to launch a city-wide disinfection campaign because it will be waste of time and money,'' Chen said.

The pneumonia outbreak has also drawn the attention of the central government. A special medical experts group led by Ma Xiaowei, vice-minister of health, arrived in Guangdong on Monday to help fight the disease and investigate the source of the outbreak.

A doctor who gave his surname as Lei from Guangzhou No 8 People's Hospital, a special hospital for infectious diseases, said, after investigations, hospitals had found out the right medicines to curb the disease.

Zou Xuelan, a local housewife, said there was nothing to be afraid of as pneumonia is one of the city's common diseases.

Stock trading outlets, public buses, shopping centers, cinemas, parks, scenic spots, hospitals and other public venues opened and operated normally Tuesday in Guangzhou.

Local schools and kindergartens will also begin their new school term next week as scheduled.

Over the past few weeks, the pneumonia outbreak has sparked massive sales of anti-virus medicines, vinegar and local traditional Chinese herbal tea which is claimed to be able to kill the virus.

(China Daily February 12, 2003)